Curiosity Result Could Confirm Mars
Life, Says Levin (Source: New Scientist)
As space fans anticipate news of organic molecules from the Mars
Curiosity rover – cryptically teased by the mission's chief scientist,
John Grotzinger – there's one man who is even more excited than most.
Former NASA researcher Gilbert Levin says that a positive sign of
organics by Curiosity would confirm his claim that NASA has already
seen evidence for life on Mars – from an experiment called Labeled
Release aboard the Viking mission.

If Curiosity has found evidence for organics, as many are hoping, "that
removes the last barrier to my interpretation of the Labeled Release
results, and leaves us free and clear", Levin said. Though the prospect
of new Curiosity findings have set the internet abuzz, nobody from NASA
has yet said publicly what they are. (11/23)

European Data Relay Satellite System
Approved (Source: Xinhua)
The European Space Agency (ESA) on Friday announced the design of the
first commercially-operated data relay satellite system has been
completed and approved. This fast-tracks the launch of the service to
its first customer, the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security
(GMES) initiative of the European Union.

A design review board of senior members from the ESA, Astrium and the
German Aerospace Center approved Europe's data relay satellite system
(EDRS) design: from the satellites to the support that will be required
from the ground. EDRS will deliver services to the scientific community
by providing a telecommunications network that is fast, reliable and
seamless, making real-time information from satellites available on
demand.

It is being built through a public-private partnership between ESA and
Astrium Services, using payloads carried by two satellites in
geostationary orbit, hovering 36,000 km above the equator, where their
speed matches Earth's rotation. Data transmitted from satellites in
lower orbits to either of these EDRS payloads can then be relayed to
the ground. (11/24)

Earth, Mars May Share Primordial Water
Source, Chondritic Meteorites (Source: Aviation Week)
In their earliest eras, the Earth, Mars and the solar system's other
rocky planets drew water from the same source, chondritic meteorites --
not usually credited comets, suggest recent studies of two primitive
space rocks of Martian origin. The findings also suggest the Earth and
Mars evolved quite differently, supporting wider evidence of a
significant surface water presence in the distant Martian past
that disappeared over time along with a more substantial atmosphere.
(11/23)

SpaceX Engine Probe Delays January
Flight (Source: Florida Today)
SpaceX has delivered a Falcon 9 rocket to Cape Canaveral while
continuing an engine-problem investigation that will delay the
booster’s planned launch from mid-January to early March. Company and
NASA engineers are still sorting out what caused one of nine Merlin
engines to shut down early during the Oct. 7 launch of a Dragon cargo
capsule to the International Space Station.

The NASA Advisory Council’s Human Exploration and Operations Committee
also learned at its Nov. 14 meeting about several anomalies the Dragon
spacecraft experienced during its first commercial resupply mission to
the station. The Dragon slated to fly NASA’s second commercial resupply
mission, now tentatively targeted for March 1, is expected to be
delivered to the Cape next month. (11/23)

Rocky Exoplanets May be 'Squishy'
Worlds (Source: Discovery)
Planets beyond the solar system that are bigger than Earth but smaller
than gas giants like Neptune could have oceans of liquid metal and
life-protecting magnetic shields. Under the heat and pressure that
exist inside super-Earths, magnesium oxide and other minerals commonly
found in the rocky mantles of the terrestrial planets, transform into
liquid metals, laboratory tests show.

Scientists zapped a piece of magnesium oxide with high-powered lasers
to simulate the heat and pressure that would exist on planets roughly
three to 10 times as massive as Earth. They discovered that the clear
ceramic mineral first morphed into a solid with a new crystal
structure, then completely transformed into a liquid metal. In that
state, the liquid mineral may be able to sustain a physics phenomenon
called a "dynamo" action, which is responsible for generating magnetic
fields. (11/22)

A Crewed NASA Mission to the Far Side
of the Moon (Source: SEN)
The USA's present roadmap to space for humans includes a return to the
Moon, a visit to an asteroid and eventually a landing on Mars. But a
free-thinking group of space scientists have proposed a novel
alternative early mission to NASA - a journey to a region of space
beyond the far side of the Moon.

Their concept would involve flying the agency's planned new Orion space
capsule to a spot known as the lunar L2 (Lagrange) point - a location
where the combined gravity of the Earth and Moon allows a spacecraft to
sit permanently above the lunar far side. The mission would be a
testing ground for NASA to discover more about long-duration missions
away from Earth before astronauts venture further into deep space.

Such a mission would take Orion's astronauts 65,000 km beyond the Moon
- 15 per cent further away from Earth than the Apollo crews journeyed -
and they would spend nearly three times longer in space than the later
12 day Apollo missions. (11/24)

Duma Ratifies Russian-Belarusian
Agreement on Cooperation in Space (Source: Itar-Tass)
Russia’s State Duma has ratified an intergovernmental agreement between
Russia and Belarus on cooperation in the peaceful use or orbital space.
Dmitry Sablin, first deputy chairman of the Duma committee for the CIS,
said the document is called upon “to pool the two countries’ efforts in
the implementation of bilateral space projects... Russia and Belarus
will have an opportunity to design joint programs of training the
personnel, exchanging specialists, using ground facilities and the
system of control over space objects.” (11/24)

FAA Withdraws Rule for Amateur Launch
Licensing (Source: Aviation Week)
In what amounts to a memo from the Office of Sanity, the FAA is
withdrawing a previously published direct final rule that would have
allowed launch operators that conduct certain amateur rocket launches
to voluntarily apply for a commercial space transportation license or
experimental permit. According to the agency’s Nov. 14 notice, it
received “several adverse comments” on its Aug. 22 regulation.

To be sure, the licensing would have been voluntary, and it was
proffered as one way to support larger launch operators that, under
contract with NASA, were required to obtain an FAA launch license. But
commenters pointed to issues with the potential cost to small
businesses and the government, both in terms of the resources necessary
for preparing and evaluating applications and in conditional payment of
excess claims commonly referred to as “indemnification.”

Isle of Man Space Company Teams Up for
Lunar X-Prize (Source: BBC)
A Manx space company has teamed up with another in Israel in an attempt
to win an international Moon explorer prize. Odyssey Moon Ltd has
linked up with SpaceIL to compete in a competition with a prize of $30
million. The Google-sponsored Lunar X-Prize will be fought over by 29
teams from 17 different countries.

The prize will go to the builders of the first robot to send back video
as it travels more than 500 metres of the Moon's surface. The presence
of Odyssey Moon on the Isle of Man is thought to be one of the reasons
behind a recent assessment showing the island to be the fourth most
likely nation to return to the Moon. (11/23)

Musk Comments on Stratolaunch
Involvement (Source: NewSpace Watch)
During a recent talk in the UK, Elon Musk was asked about SpaceX's
involvement with Stratolaunch Systems. SpaceX is supposed to supply a
variant of the Falcon rocket to be air-launched after dropping from the
Stratolaunch carrier aircraft. Musk said that this is "certainly not
one of our main initiatives" and that there are "likely to be some
changes in that program" but he can't comment about this. (11/24)